Mumbai, March 15 Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday that all efforts would be made to ensure that the bypolls to the Baramati and Rahuri assembly seats are held without opposition through consensus, but he asserted that the BJP is ready if it comes down to a contest.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced during the day that the bypolls to Baramati in Pune and Rahuri in Ahilyanagar, necessitated by the deaths of then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and BJP legislator Shivaji Kardile, respectively, will be held on April 23.
Addressing a press conference to announce the election schedule, Kumar said that votes will be counted on May 4.
Speaking to reporters before the announcement by the Election Commission of India, Fadnavis said, "All attempts would be made to reach a unanimous decision so that elections are held without opposition. However, if an election is imposed on us (the BJP-led Mahayuti), we are prepared for a contest as well."
While NCP leader Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28, Kardile died of a cardiac arrest on October 17 last year at the age of 66.
Bypolls are scheduled for eight assembly seats across the country. While five seats in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland, and Tripura will go to polls on April 9, the date is April 23 for one seat in Gujarat and two (Baramati and Rahuri) in Maharashtra.
The other six seats are Ponda in Goa, Bagalkot and Davnagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura, and Umreth in Gujarat.